Dressing Up

dressing up...at my age. I sit here, at my "job" in a beautiful evening gown and a thick layer of eyeliner painted across my lids, with plans to go to Salem as soon as I'm finished with my on air shift. It is, after all, Halloween. Most other grownups will be headed home to have dinner with their families and hand out snack sized candy bars to neighborhood children in their pirate & princess costumes....but NOT ME!! My family is two grown children with lives of their own. Now it's just me...and my little dog, too! I have a freedom I've never had in my life. I can go out whenever I want to, without checking in with anyone or feeling any kind of guilt for not being home. To be honest, I've had a difficult time adjusting. I miss the noise in the house; the phone constantly ringing with calls not meant for me; sports on the television seven days a week; the conversations; their presence. What I don't miss is listening for the door, late at night, until my kids are safely home. There comes a time when you have to let them go and trust that they'll get home safely without you there to listen for them. Someday they'll have children of their own to listen for. Trick or treat.